Lil Monster Debut!

Remember a few weeks ago when I made this hat? Well, the baby boy it was meant for came into the world this week! (and he looks so much better in it than the semi-creepy baby doll I originally modeled it on!) Congratulations Amy!

However...

"after his debut in it, Oliver decided that he has a big head and that the hat donning process was a bit too much for his liking since his 13 1/2 inch head barely fit!"

To be fair, Oliver is the first real baby to try on the newborn-sized hat, and I was aware that even newborns are all different sizes when they're born. So I was prepared for the possiblility of the hat being too small...so when Amy bought the hat from me, I had offered to make a bigger one if it didn't fit. So I'm going to make good on my offer now.

Yup...sizing is still a slow learning process. Even with help from Martha. ;)
I don't have any kids/babies of my own, so I can't just go grab one to measure their head...I have to borrow my friends' kids!

Professor Wormbog Update

Custom order for "Professor Wormbog" Nubbins

I got an email a couple weeks ago from my husband, saying that one of his co-workers who had bought a set of my "Where the Wild Things Are" inspired Nubbins had a special order request for me. He wanted me to make Nubbin versions of three characters from the book "Professor Wormbog in Search for the Zipperump-A-Zoo" by Mercer Mayer...

I had previously known of Mercer Mayer as the guy who wrote the "Little Critter" books I read as a child, but had never heard of the "Professor Wormbog" book...and thankfully, the local small-town library in Medina just happened to have the book...so I could have more reference pictures than the one on the cover (which does not show the Zipperump-A-Zoo).

I have a deadline to finish all three by March 13th. What have I gotten myself into? It's going to be challenging, but I always say I'm up for a challenge. (Want a little sauce on those words you're going to eat Kira?)

Keep in mind these are preliminary stages. I am simply cutting out the fabric and trying to figure out how I'm going to construct these. The finished product will probably look much different. I'll be sure to post pictures of the finished products!

Speaking of Dogs...

I came across this via Readymade today...

Little Monsters (and dogs)

My (other) friend Amy ordered some monster hats for her kids last week (she's the mother of that adorable baby in the pink hat in the previous post). The one for her son Liam (the one on the right in the picture below) was one I had already made so I let him wear it home. The other hats I had to custom make. This week when we met at their house for church, the first thing Liam asked me was if I had his brother Eli's red monster hat. Amy then told me that Liam has been wearing his hat all day, every day, all week! The only time he takes it off is at night when he hangs it on his bed post!

The only problem with them both having red hats is that it's hard to tell them apart from behind now! (The only difference in the hats is that Eli's has black inner ears and Liam's has grey inner ears)

They just got a new dog, Stella (the big white dog)...and we brought Luna over last night after church to play. Yes...I know...Stella and Luna. I had a hand in the naming of their dog. The day they got her, Amy called and asked me what name I would pick if we ever got another female dog...so I told her we would probably continue the Latin celestial theme and go with "Stella". She and her husband liked it, so Stella it is!

(Stella and Luna got along very well by the way...Luna has made a new dog friend!)

(I'm told Stella acts like she thinks the kids' monster hat ears are dog ears...because she keeps sniffing and licking them! )

More Monster Ear Hats in Infant & Kid Sizes!

I got some infant size hats now!

And more kid-size hats...

These are some of the kids at church on Sunday...

Valentine Poem Video

Randomly came up with this idea to make a Valentine's Day video with my "Muppet Whatnot" puppet (that I named Jake). You can also watch it on my YouTube channel.



Even though I'm the one that made it, it doesn't fail to make me laugh! I think the timing of the music makes this all the funnier. It wouldn't be the same without the music! I got the royalty-free music from this site.

I can't take any credit for making up any of the poem variations. I got them all from doing a Google search for funny "roses are red, violets are blue" poems.

Post Valentine's Day Thoughts

I was surprised to find that I just wasn't really "into" Valentine's Day this year...which I find ironic, since back when I was single, I always bewailed my singleness and was bitter on Valentine's Day because I didn't have a signifigant other to spend it with. And now that I'm married, it's not a huge deal to me anymore. Of course, that's not to say I don't enjoy doing a little something special to celebrate.

(This is one of our Engagement Photos)

Maybe I didn't consider Valentine's Day a big deal this year because my husband gives me such an abundance of love throughout the year. And I don't have high expectations as far as cards or gifts. I don't care about diamonds or fancy, extravegant gifts. Gifts are nice, but I don't expect them. It may sound cheesy, but the fact that he loves me is enough of a gift for me! As long as we get to go out to dinner and a movie I'm happy. Well, since we live an hour away from the nearest movie theater, it turned out to be just the movie this year. (since we need to get home to let the dog out). We saw "Avatar" on Saturday. (And I just realized that our movie was in theater 13...on February 13th. That makes me laugh.)

CJ got me roses yesterday too. (He gets me flowers 3 times a year...our anniversary, my birthday, and Valentine's Day...but I never expect it and am always surprised when he gets them). It was funny, because he had gone to the store while I was still asleep, and was planning on surprising me with he roses and breakfast in bed. But I got up to go to the bathroom right as he was coming home, and thwarted his plan to surprise me. But I was still surprised...and I still got roses and still got waffles...just not in bed. ;)

"I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine..." - Song of Solomon 6:3

Kid Size Monster-Ear Hats

These hats were a hit with the kids at church on Sunday. I'm going to have to start making a lot more kid sized ones! (these two are the only kid size ones I have so far)


I'm still learning a lot about sizing these hats. Trial and error I guess. A big thank you to all my friends with kids who let me use their kids as sizing guinia pigs!

This blue one can fit an adult as well. (so either I have a small head or Matt has a big head!)

Emily's birthday was this week. I want to make her her own hat. She'd look so cute in a pink & brown one.

I also keep getting requests from Facebook friends for a green "Yoda" hat. I've been busy, and then sick this week, so I need to crawl out of my sickness-induced lethargy and MAKE stuff!

Custom Newborn Monster-Ear Hat

I posted pics of the previous newborn hat on my Facebook and now all my friends want one! Below is my first custom hat for my friend Amy. And these newborn hats are listed in my Etsy shop now. (need a baby shower gift?)

Yay for making fun, yet practical fuzzy things!

(BTW: I'm hoping to maybe use one of my friends' babies as models soon so I won't have to use the baby doll. It's pretty life-like, but not enough to fool one into thinking it's actually a real baby...so it just ends up being a bit creepy.)

Newborn Monster-Ear Hat

After seeing my last post, my friend Amy emailed me saying that she'd love to buy one for her new baby that is on the way. She also gave me a very helpful link to a project for making fleece hats that has some sizing information on the Martha Stewart website. (Oh....Martha is sucking me in!)
So, eager to try my hand at making a smaller sized hat, I made a newborn Monster-Ear hat...

I made the pattern myself based on the sizing chart on the Martha website and the hat pattern I'd used for the adult sized hat (traced from a pattern for a recycled sweater hat project in the book Last Minute Fabric Gifts)

My model is a baby doll that Aunt Grandma actually gave me years ago...a childhood toy that I keep for my friends' kids to enjoy when they come over. It is supposed to be the size of an actual newborn. It fits the doll, so I hope it fits an actual baby! (this is based on the smallest size on the chart...14 inch circumference and 8 inch crown)

Average Head Sizes:
Newborn (6 months and younger)
Circumference: 14 to 17 inches
Crown: 8 to 10 inches

Infant (6 to 12 months)
Circumference: 16 to 19 inches
Crown: 11 to 12 inches

Monster-Ear Hats!

My recent love of making monsters with pointy little gremlin ears has now branched off into making monster-ear hats!

The great thing about these is that even after winter is over, and you don't need to keep your head warm anymore, you can stash these in with your own little monsters' dress-up clothes!

I'd like to list these in the Etsy shop, but need to figure out sizing, and I need to photograph them in front of a more proffessional looking background (I need to hang a sheet up or something).

Origins of Polly Esther the Sock Monkey

The other day at my parents' house, I was looking at family photo albums (that need some serious re-scrapbooking!...due to years of being in those sticky "magnetic" photo albums...but that's for another post). I found this picture of me when I was a year old, watching Saturday morning cartoons with Daddy... (well, Dad's watching cartoons, I don't know what I seem to be preoccupied with)...


...with my first sock monkey...Polly Esther!

And I found this Family Circus clipping in the album as well. THIS is where my Mom got the idea to name my sock monkey Polly Esther!